Listeners
If you're here, you probably listen to the show, so why not share a bit about yourself? When and why did you start listening to the show? What was your favorite episode? What's your ideal panel? Have you had a question answered on the air? Ever win a homework assignment? Here, I'll start: Brendan Sinclair (Canadian, but living in the USA), GS user name Polybren If I remember right, the first episode I ever heard had Jeff suggesting that kids should try heroin. It sounds pretty bad out of context, I know. Come to think of it, it sounded pretty bad in context, too. I mean, it's heroin. My favorite episode of all time is probably the Haze episode with the guy from Korn explaining that gaming to him is like a religion. So good. As for my favorite episode that I had anything to do with, that'd probably be the one with California State Senator Leland Yee in the studio . Beyond just having an influential and unconventional guest for a gaming podcast (he authored the game sales restriction law that is currently before the Supreme Court), I nearly wet myself at Shaun McInnis' impression of the man. Anyway, the HotSpot listeners have always been great to the show and helped make it what it is, so I hope we can make this Wiki reflect not just how awesome they are, but how grateful we are to have them. Stephen Gillespie (United Kingdom), GS user name stephenage I have been listening to the podcast since December 2008; however in the summer of 2009 I was faced with a long commute to work so decided to listen to every single episode of the hotspot, from beginning to end. I had so much fun doing this that I repeated it again several months later, and am part way through a third one now. My favourite episode is the Legend of Chun-Li review episode, where the panel spend 30 minutes insulting the 'rich tapestry of faeces’ (Brendan Sinclair) that is 'Street Fighter the Legend of Chun Li'. I once wrote into the hotspot about Sony hating me, because they cut the price of the PS3 a week after a bought one... yes I bought a PS3 the week before the slim was properly announced. The panel concluded that Sony did hate me by the way. I have entered a few homework assignments, and won one of them. I shamefully have a hotspot homework assignment emblem for insulting Brendan's Mum. I now can't listen back to that episode, my entry was truly awful and I apologise to Brendan and his Mum. My favourite panellist is, of course, Tom Mc Shea and my perfect panel would be hosted by Brendan, have Mc Shea, Magrino, McInnis, Vinnie Caravella... and KVO to add some sense to the podcast if there was room. Deric B. (USA), GS user name Viiper I have been listening to the HotSpot for about a year now. But that did not stop me from listening to every episode I could get my hands on once I found the Hotspot. I heard about the HotSpot from another podcast. A small but awesome gaming podcast called Noobtoob. A question came up on an episode of Noobtoob: you being gaming podcasters do you listen to other gaming podcast? Of course the hotspot got talked about so I had to go check it out. It was quite a surprise because I have been a member of Gamespot for 5 years and I had never heard of the HotSpot until then. I love the hotspot because it’s nice to hear opinions about games from other people. Most people around me have no interest in games, which makes it hard to have a real conversation and hear good discussion about the latest and greatest games. While I love every episode of the hotspot nothing beats an episode when Kevin gets his mic cut. That is freaking hilarious. My favorite panelist is Tor and my ideal panel would be everyone, like a super duper mega cast. Only chaos would come from it and it would be awesome. Also I don’t mean to plug other shows but it is how I found the HotSpot. Cassie Ballard (USA), GS user name: Amnesiac23 As strange as it may seem, I was an active member of the site for about three years before I began listening to the HotSpot. I've never been a huge fan of podcasts, but one day I was just bored enough to check it out. The first episode I remember listening to is the episode that features the lengthy and very funny Chun-Li review back in 2009. Ever since then, I've been hooked. It's the way I stay up to date on gaming news and is my number one source for gaming humor and puns (which I love!). Since I've started listening, I've gone back and listened to all the older episodes. It makes the time between classes go by much quicker.' ' I enjoy listening to all the panelists, although I have to say Brendan is my favorite host. When things go wrong he seems to be seconds away from either losing his mind or killing a panelist. Always keeps me laughing! Although I've never done a homework assignment, mainly because I'm not nearly clever enough, I have written in to clarify something about Munchausen by Proxy and I also recently wrote in to ask that Brendan mention donating to the Red Cross after the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in Japan. Even though I've found other podcasts I enjoy listening to, the HotSpot is still number one and I look forward to the show every week! Alan Parrish (United Kingdom) GS Username: braindead_hero Long time fan of the Gamespot Hotspot, having listened to all the episodes (albeit retroactively as the first episode I heard was in February 2007) I have a particular love for the old episodes and still consider Rich Gallup as my favourite host especially with Jeff Gerstmann as a wing man to keep the laughs coming. My favourite episode is no doubt a fan favourite when Jeff reads the quote from Korn frontman Johnathan Davis about how he feels gaming is a religion. I have had 2 of my questions/comments read on the Hotspot in the past, which I went and cut out the audio of and kept in a creepy fanboyish way. I listen to many gaming podcasts from a number of websites and GameSpot HotSpot is among my favourites but nothing gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside like listening to the timeless classic 'Too Hot' by Midnight Brown. Aiat Soltani ( Iran) GS user name: aiat_gamer I have beeen using GS as my number-1 review source for like 10 years now, and I can honestly say that I buy my games strictly based on reviews in GS. I really started listening to your podcast last week, and i have to say it was the first podcast that I have tried. I really dont have time to try something new to probably, hotspot will remain my only podcast in the future. I will email to the show for this week`s homework( my dream team for a game genre) and hopefully have my answer read in the show. Ryan Tremblay (Canada), GS username: Tremblay343 I've been listening to the hotspot since it's inception. This was back when it was mostly a page with pictures beside the news stories telling you whether the news story was hot, cold or somewhere in the middle. I think the hotspot was the first video game podcast, even though game scoop likes to say it is. What I really love about the hotspot is it's a place where a bunch of people can come together and just talk about their favourite hobby. A lot of my friends aren't into video games like I am, especially 5-6 years ago when I first started listening to it. But there's always laughs to be had, and the listener calls/rants are almost always gold. I could go on and on about some really great moments, but i'd have to say it boils down to two specific moments. Either the Duke Nukem Forever rant by Jeff Gerstmann or the one where the kid raps about staying in school after pitching his game about Shaq. I'm almost positive these are on youtube somewhere, but I'll definitely be adding them to the memorable quotes page very soon. I've already seen a lot with the newest hotspot members, so I'll mostly be going through the back catalogue. But Brendan, still love your hosting and Tom McShazbot is one of the craziest panelists I can think of. Keep up the awesome work! Ott Lindstrom, GS username: feliscele Man...it's been almost three years since I first started listening, way back in '08. As I recall, it was the 06/24/08 podcast. I somehow stumbled onto the podcast from the Gamespot Civilization IV review page. Tor was hosting at the time, with Brendan, McShizzlesnizzles and Chris Watters as the panelists. They discussed the potentiality of a mysterious Blizzard teaser site being related to Diablo III and whether or not the Beatles were going to woo EA or Activision for their rhythm game fix. Since that day, I have never missed a single HotSpot episode. Sure, I might have listened to it three weeks later because of internet issues, but I have listened to every single damn one (yes, including the atrociously recorded 06/15/10 E3 "special" podcast) and I love 'em all. I'm probably not the most hardcore, diehard HotSpot fan ever, (I'm definitely nothing compared to those fine people who have filled up the "Memorable Quotes" page with exact timestamps), but I'm somewhere on the list, if there is a list. I could fill up pages waxing poetic about all my favorite aspects, panelists, jokes and episodes of the HotSpot, but I think I'll spare you that self-indulgent boringness. Rock on. Justin Fones (USA), GS username: BrokenPancreas Squid Dix! Joey H. (Canada), GS user name MudkipMaster30 I began listening to the HotSpot podcast shortly after I began using my account for forums here on GS, which was about Summer of '09. I was immediately hooked to the show, and since then have even gone back and listened to the first year of the HotSpot when Rich Gallup was hosting. My favourite episode would probably be 10/26/10 , where the staff slowly dwindles down with cameo appearances so that only Shaun McInnis and Brendan were left, which resulted with seemingly endless laugh out loud atrocities, including McInnis' "Ham Through the Bridges" version of Dragula. My ideal panel would be a combination of Brendan, the two Toms, Kevin, and Tor. I have yet to ever write in with a question or a homework assignment after all of this time, but I promise you, this statement will soon be deleted. Colden Cullen (USA), GS username ak47pi I have been listening to The HotSpot since its inception, and have heard every episode since. I don't have a favorite episode, but some of the early ones were good, being informative and funny. Ira Herbold (Australia), GS username random515 I've been listening to the Hotspot on and off for a few years now. I started listening when I was still stuck on a dial-up connection, so it would take me about three hours to download a single episode (which should tell you something about how much I enjoyed what I listened to. It's the only podcast I listen to, and I've heard just about every episode from 2008 onwards and am slowly working my way backwards (now on broadband, which makes it a lot easier). I don't have a specific favourite episode, but any time when Brendan completely loses control of the panel is always hilarious. Nuno Sousa (Portugal), GS username nunofgs I started listening back when Rich Gallup was hosting the show and absolutely loved it. I was really sad to see him go but I still listened to every single show since. Alex Andrews (USA), GS username True_Avery I'm not quite sure how long I have been listening to the Hotspot, but I started to really get into the show when Brendan began hosting. Since then I've been addicted. I've been the proud winner of a number of different Hotspot homeworks, my proudest Hotspot moment being winning my first emblem for submitting my idea for a Half-life movie some years back on the 10/27/2009 podcast, which also happened to be the first time I ever wrote in. Since then I've won more times then I can remember, but its been fun non-the-less. I've had plenty of questions answers, and also had some memorable, if somewhat regretable, conversations with Brendan in emails but all the interactions have been fun! Well, maybe not for him but I sometimes find a ranting email relaxing and am glad I can give them something to read at least. I've laughed, laughed so hard I cried, and said things I love and things I regret and am sorry for with the Hotspot and cannot think of a better weekly show, and I hope I can be apart of the Hotspot listener community for a long time coming and also hope to become more active. If you put a dangerous thing to my head and told me to say my favorite episode it would probably have to be the Chun-li movie episode, of which I've listened to well over a dozen times. Jann M. (Germany), GS username ganga_ I would consider myself a longtime listener to the show, i've been listening to the Hotspot since 2008. I only got a Nintendo Wii back then and no other gaming system. Because there wasn't a big german Wii community, I joined the GS community and that's also how i started listening to the Hotspot. Brendan is a great host, although I have to say that KVO is my second favourite host, even if he only did it once. I like most of the segments of the show, but I'd like to have one where you're talking about the games you're currently playing. My favourite moment of all time is when Brendan once told, that he forgot to turn the water off in the bathroom because he was playing some NHL game and his whole appartment got flooded - awesome story. ' ' James Brown(UK) GS username Tubbygaijin ''' I've been listening to the Hotspot for the past 3 years or so, I usually listen at work or on my commute to and from. It's a great balance of informative game chat and (sometimes unintentional)comedy. You guys have never steered me wrong with game suggestions and I really value your opinion when it comes to picking games to buy. I'd have real trouble picking a favourite episode, but whenever Magrino promises Brendan will send $500 or something always puts a smile on my face. '''Riyan M. (Bangladesh, currently studying in the US) GS username RealHarry I've been listening to the show since around the time MGS4 came out. I don't really remember why I got hooked but I did and it became part of my college life. I listen to it while I'm on the bus, while at work and, of course, when I'm home. The HotSpot never fails to entertain or inform me and also teaches me things not to do sometimes. I've gotten to know the crew and everyone's little quirks and running gags but if I had to choose my HotSpot All Star Team, it'd have to be Brendan, Shaun, Chris, Magrino and Kevin. And also Mc Shea as the 6th man. There are too many good episodes to choose from but the 2-man podcast was just hilarious. I could keep writing this love letter but I'll just share this one memorable incident involving the HotSpot. I was in this super white town called Armonk (still don't know how I got there) and was the only brown man present. So, while white people uncomfortably stared at me, I listened to the David Sirlin podcast and got so absorbed in it that I must have become white because I stopped being uncomfortable. So thank you HotSpot for giving me the power to get over my racial fears. Category:Curtis Willard, Jr (Bristol, CT USA Home of ESPN Land) GS username wildcatc1981